Capri

Capri is a limestone island of just over 10 square kilometres at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Naples, about 5 km off the tip of the Sorrento Peninsula. It rises in cliffs straight from the sea and is split into two communities: Capri town in the east, around its famous little square, and Anacapri higher up in the west, below Monte Solaro, at 589 m the island's highest point, which you can reach by chairlift. About 13,500 people live here, and the island has been a resort for two thousand years.

The Romans started it. Augustus developed Capri as a private retreat, and his successor Tiberius, according to Tacitus, built twelve villas here; in AD 27 he moved to the island for good and governed the empire from it until his death ten years later. The ruins of Villa Jovis, the largest of his residences, sit on the island's eastern headland and are among the best-preserved Roman villas in Italy. Below the town, the Gardens of Augustus look down on the hairpin bends of the Via Krupp footpath, often closed because of rockfall.

The coast is what most people come for. The Faraglioni, three rock stacks off the southeast shore, are the island's emblem; the Arco Naturale is a large natural arch on the east side; and on the northwest coast the Blue Grotto, a sea cave famous for its blue light, became a celebrity after the German writer August Kopisch described his visit in 1826. The two harbours are Marina Grande on the north coast, where boats arrive, and Marina Piccola on the south.

From the late 19th century Capri drew artists, writers and people looking for a more tolerant life than they could find at home: Axel Munthe, who built Villa San Michele in Anacapri, Norman Douglas, Compton Mackenzie, Gracie Fields and Maxim Gorky, who hosted Lenin here in 1908. Debussy named a piano prelude after the hills of Anacapri. The Certosa di San Giacomo, a former charterhouse, houses a museum of the painter Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, and the modernist Villa Malaparte is an architectural landmark of its own. In July and August day-trippers crowd the island, and overtourism is a real concern.

Getting there

Capri has no airport; Naples International Airport (NAP) is about 38 km away. Ferries and hydrofoils run from Naples (Molo Beverello and Calata di Massa), Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi, with extra summer services from Ischia and elsewhere. Boats arrive at Marina Grande, from where a funicular climbs to Capri town and public buses serve Anacapri, Marina Piccola and the Blue Grotto. Visitors' cars are heavily restricted for much of the year, so plan to use buses, taxis or your feet.